National Cathedral won’t be financial burden on state – Finance Minister

Accra- Mr. Ken Ofori-Atta, the Minister for Finance, on Thursday, stated that the Government will support the Christian Community to construct a National Cathedral.

However, the President, he said, was determined not put undue financial burden on the state to fund it.

He, therefore, proposed a partnership between the State and the Christian Community, both at home and in the Diaspora towards its execution.

Mr. Ofori-Atta, who was presenting the 2019 Budget Statement to Parliament, said the Cathedral, as a National Monument, would house impressive chapels and baptistery, a 5000-seat main auditorium, which is expandable to house about 15,000 people for national events and celebrations.

He stated that the Cathedral would include a grand central hall, a music school and a fulcrum for Africa’s first-ever Bible Museum.

The National Cathedral project will also bequeath to the country, a gracious park for all Ghanaians; bring new skills, technology, jobs to the country and will also act as beacon to national, regional and international tourists he noted.

Mr. Ofori-Atta said the State was facilitating the Project by providing an arable land, the Secretariat and the seed money for the preparatory phase.

The formal launch of his national fundraising campaign for December 28, 2018, in Ghana, and February 2019 in the United States,” he explained.

He said the Cathedral’s partnership framework would operationalise and act as a practical expression of the social partnership, envisaged to foster participatory development of a country, as a collective goal.

Speaking on the progress of the Creative Arts Industry, he said the Creative Arts Industry Bill was now in Parliament for deliberation and passage into a law.

The Creative Arts Fund is incorporated in the Bill to ensure the economic viability of the Creative Arts Sector in the economy, Mr.Ofori-Atta said.

He also emphasised the decision of the Government to pursue the passage of a Legislative Instrument to establish a Secretariat for the National Film Authority and would also facilitate the construction of an Ultra-Modern Film Production Studio to attract the international film community.